Fixing Up: Climb Up to Reopen After May 6 Tornado

On the afternoon of Wednesday, May 6 we were watching the weather closely and made the call to close early due to an approaching supercell. We are glad that we made the right call and got everyone out of the building in time. Climb Up was hit by the tornado that crossed through the north side of Norman. The same tornado also hit several businesses to the SW and NE of us including the Johnson Controls factory just across the way from us. Thankfully no one was killed by the tornado that went through Norman. However, we did sustain some damage to our building which resulted in property damage and left us with a lot of soaking wet foam pads. Climb Up staff took action that evening immediately after the first cell. We mopped up water, relocated pads, placed buckets to catch water, and covered up holes in the roof and the missing garage door. The power was out and there was a lightning storm going so we had to wait for the optimal time to work outside. Soon after another torrential rain and hail front passed through that left us even more water to deal with.

Thursday we were closed to climbing. We had several volunteers show up to help move pads, mop, and help secure the building to the rains that were to come later in the day. We really want to thank those three who help with all the labor. A huge thank you goes to Natty and her family who reached out to help provide fans, tarps, and sandbags.

It's Friday and we are getting ready for another round of storms this afternoon and tomorrow as well. We are in the process of replacing the garage door and getting things back in order in the hopes of being able to open this afternoon. We still have a lot of wet insulation and some holes in the roof but we should be able to open regardless. That said, more severe weather has been forecasted for this afternoon and Saturday so we will keep an eye on it.

We hope that when we do open we'll see you all back here for some climbing. This has been tough on us personally and on our business so we appreciate all the well-wishes and support. We're ready to get back to climbing as much as you are.